Defendant in 1991 murder: I was attacked by two men

SANFORD — Murder defendant David Lee Hedrick told jurors Friday he bumbled into a murder scene 23 years ago, was attacked by two men, fought for his life and fled.

Hedrick, 54, was trying to convince a 12-member jury that he did not stab and slash a receptionist to death in a computer store near Casselberry on Jan. 31, 1991.

He is charged with first-degree murder.

The body of Betty Clair Foster, 50, was found with more than 20 knife wounds at the MyComp Computer store where she worked part time.

Hedrick's DNA was found in several spots of blood, according to authorities, but it took two decades to make the match.

Hedrick spent 50 minutes on the witness stand Friday.

Calmly and without emotion he told jurors he walked into the store early the afternoon of the slaying, spotted blood and once he stepped inside also saw Foster's body.

He said he called 911 then went to the body.

"A person, I can't tell you who, jumped out. … I had to fight for my life," he said.

The man had a knife, he said. In the struggle, Hedrick said, his hands were badly cut, but he got away.

"I ran in sheer panic toward the front door," he said.

There, a second man "grabbed me," he said. He got away from that man, as well, he said, ran toward the rear of the store, looking for a way to get free but without success.

He then circled back and departed through the front door, where he saw a third suspect in a getaway car, he said.

He did not wait for Seminole County deputies to arrive, he said, and that was a mistake.

"I should have stayed," he said.

A Seminole County Sheriff's Office evidence technician collected more than a dozen blood samples at the scene, but the DNA found in it wasn't tested for several years, and there was no match until two years ago. Hedrick was arrested Jan. 9, 2012.

He would not answer investigators' questions at the time.

If convicted, he faces a life prison sentence.

The victim was working alone in the store at the corner of State Road 436 and U.S. Highway 17-92 when she was attacked, according to authorities.

A customer discovered her body near a pool of blood inside the MyComp Computer shop and went for help.

"Blood, there was blood everywhere," retired Seminole County Deputy Dan LaFleur, the first officer on the scene, told jurors Tuesday.

There was blood on the floor and blood spatter on the walls, he said. He saw a woman's body on the floor.

The store's owner, Ron Mollon, testified Tuesday that Hedrick was not a customer, had never done business at the shop and he'd never seen him until authorities showed him a photo near the time of the arrest. Hedrick suffered disabling injuries to the little finger of each hand.

He's told different people different stories over the years about what happened, according to Assistant State Attorney Anna Valentini. Hedrick on Friday admitted that but said he told both his ex-wives that they were injured in the struggle with the men at the murder scene.

His second ex-wife, Sandra Pegel, told an investigator that the defendant told her they were injured when he worked as a corrections officer and grabbed an inmate's knife, trying to disarm him.

A hospital business manager showed jurors a medical billing sheet Tuesday that indicated Hedrick had gotten treatment the night of the homicide for injuries to a finger.